Nameless Sylvan

Hidden within the steep entanglement of the NSW Illawarra Escarpment lies a small but magical place – 'Nameless' Sylvan Reserve.

A maturing Red Cedar. Photo Wayne Lawler / EcoPix.
The first Europeans to venture here would have been searching for Red Cedar, the tall, majestic rainforest trees that turn copper red when flushed with new growth. Known by sawmillers as 'red gold' during the early days of colonial settlement, they were highly prized on international markets and for many years were the most valuable trees in NSW.

Now, along with the Illawarra subtropical rainforests it once dominated, it's a rarity protected only in a handful of places, including 'Nameless'.

The forest floor at Nameless Reserve. Photo Peter Foreman.
This mesmerising place also hides Irwin's Creek, a playground for Freshwater Crayfish, Platypus and Swamp Wallabies.

Below the rainforest canopy is an understory filled with native vines, lianas, shrubs and scramblers, and high up in the trees perch epiphytic ferns and orchids – plants that take nutrients from the bark and leaf litter of other plants.

All this has been protected thanks to the generosity of our supporters.

What Nameless Sylvan protects

Illawarra subtropical rainforest is an endangered ecological community in NSW so its ongoing protection on this reserve is crucial. Species endemic to this type of rainforest and protected at ‘Nameless' include:

What we're doing

Introduced into Australia as an ornamental plant, Lantana has become one of Australia's most invasive weeds.

A native butterfly feeding on a Lantana flower. Photo Wayne Lawler / EcoPix.
At 'Nameless' this low, scrambling, woody shrub has smothered areas where there are breaks in the canopy, and is stopping native seeds from regenerating naturally.

Removing this noxious weed will give the rainforest a fighting chance of self-renewal and lead to a healthier ecosystem.

With luck, this sort of bush regeneration will also result in the return of the Noisy Pitta, one of Australia's most spectacular rainforest birds. Although it's been spotted only a few times in the Illawarra region in recent years, we'd be overjoyed to see it return to 'Nameless'.

What's in a name?

The forest canopy at Nameless reserve. Photo Paul Foreman.
When this property was generously donated to us by Louise Sylvan, it came with subtropical rainforest, Lyrebirds, and Platypuses splashing in the creek. But it didn't come with a name.

The title 'Nameless' was chosen by Louise's late husband Richard, a philosopher and environmentalist, whose foresight secured the land for conservation. Richard Sylvan was interested in the philosophical question of what it means when we humans assign a name to something in the natural world.

According to Louise, "the ambiguity of the reserve's name pleased him – the reserve is nameless, yet it does actually have a name."